Kim Painter

Local elected (D), Johnson County, IA. Writer. I have a wife, I am a wife. Politics, arts, sciences, U.S. & Italy.

[Bleeding Heartland @LauraRBelin]

The Senate approved the medication abortion restrictions and the last budget bill ("standings"), both in party-line votes.
Around 7:08 pm, the Iowa Senate approved the resolution adjourning "sine die" for the rest of the year.
They'll be back on the second Monday of January 2027.

[Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs]

The shooting happened on the level above the ballroom where the White House Correspondents Association dinner was.
I don't think people hearing about this -- or even those of us in the room -- realized how far from the president, VP and other guests this incident was. It was on another floor, up some stairs and several sets of security away.
Because the Washington Hilton's hotel and other public spaces were open for other functions, the entire building wasn't secured by the Secret Service, just the specific areas where the WHCA dinner was held, law enforcement officials told @CBSNews.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The United States is so toxic on the world stage right now that it can’t fill hotels or sell World Cup tickets.

Let that land.

FIFA projected $30.5 billion in economic impact from millions of international visitors.

That demand never showed up.

Hotels in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco have slashed match-day rates by a third from their peak.

FIFA has cancelled tens of thousands of reserved rooms across all 16 host cities.

Some hotels report cancellation rates above 95%.

The reasons aren’t hard to find. Anti-American sentiment. Fear of border crossings. The Iran war driving up oil prices and airfares. And tickets priced into the stratosphere, with finals seats hitting $10,990 a pop.

Industry executives are now openly blaming the Trump administration for the shortfall.

Tourism economists say the Iran war made an already bad sentiment problem worse.

Empty stadiums are now a real possibility.

It happened at the Club World Cup last summer.

It could happen again, on American soil, at the biggest sporting event on the planet.

The White House says this will be “the greatest World Cup ever.”

The market disagrees.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[🇨🇳 Guo Shen 郭深 @GuoShenCN7]

🚨 READ THIS VERY CAREFULLY.

China just made the most aggressive public statement toward a Western ally in modern history.

Here's what's unfolding:

– China publicly stated using a nuclear weapon would mean "the demise of Israel as a country"

– This is the FIRST TIME China has directly threatened a US-aligned nuclear state with national extinction

– The statement was made on the record — not through back channels, not leaked, PUBLICLY

– Russia has not distanced itself from the statement. Complete silence.

– The United States has offered ZERO public response

– A senior analyst I know at a major think tank told me: "This is China telling the world that American nuclear guarantees are worthless. Full stop."

– Iran's negotiating leverage just increased by an order of magnitude OVERNIGHT

– Every Gulf state is now recalculating its alliance structure in real time

The global order just shifted. Not in months. Not in weeks. In one statement.

I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨

[ThePatrioticBlonde™🇺🇸 @ImBreckWorsham]

An hour after announcing his resignation, the US Army Chief of Staff says: "A madman is about to lead the great US military to ruin."

[Kim Painter @painterkim]

And...there goes Audi. #IowaState

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Breaking: The Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has permanently blocked the release of special counsel Jack Smith's report on the classified documents case — saying releasing the report would be unfair to Trump and his co-defendants.

[Natasha Korecki @natashakorecki]

In light of SCOTUS tariff ruling, Gov. Pritzker sent President Donald Trump an invoice of $8.6 billion.

[Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett]

(AP) House Speaker Mike Johnson denies request for Rev. Jesse Jackson to lie in honor in US Capitol

[VoteHub @VoteHub]

Kentucky State Senate 37 Special Election

Fully reported:
🔵 Gary Clemons - 3,752 (72.5%)
🔴 Calvin Leach - 1,297 (25.0%)

This district was just Harris+6 in 2024, so this is a 42 point overperformance for Democrats.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

Mitch McConnell didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to wipe out 95% of the $28B U.S. hemp industry.

Now we know why: he took nearly $900,000 from the alcohol lobby and then quietly slipped a hemp ban into a shutdown bill that threatens 300,000 American jobs.

[Jennifer Zi @carcinoidmama]

@BulwarkOnline Republican in Texas unilaterally decide to re-draw their maps in order to to give Trump the 5 seats in the House he asked for is great, but Dems asking the voters to approve or disapprove of a re-draw is “rigging the system”?

GOP truly hates the democratic process don’t they?

[Lauren Hogg @lauren_hoggs]

I take personal credit for David being able to flame someone this well. It is only through years of relentless sibling roasts that he got to this level.

[Jacob Rubashkin @JacobRubashkin]

This is the first Democrat to win a state level race in Georgia in 20 years.

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

@elonmusk In New York State, multiple political parties may endorse the same candidate for a given office. When they do:
•The candidate’s name appears once for each endorsing party (“party line”) on the ballot.

[Illinois Democratic Operative @DuckworthStan]

Oh yeah NBC calling it for Spanberger

[ChiChi Greenblatt @ChiChiGreenblat]

Jeff Bezos paid $50M for a wedding.
He just got a $16B tax break.
He laid off 60k people.
And you’re furious about a kid getting a free school lunch.

[Andrew Desiderio @AndrewDesiderio]

Funny moment just now in the Senate: Lindsey Graham whispered something into his phone and then Siri responded with full volume: “Calling Sean Hannity mobile”